HORNBROOK – Jillyann Lowe and her sons had been carefully crafting an all-natural farm and garden around their home. They planned to have pigs, chickens, turkeys, roosters, fruit trees, blackberry bushes and ostriches by summer’s end.

Lowe had hoped to make enough money to be able to stay home while still providing for her children.

That all changed May 9.

After a devastating fire, only sparse remnants remain of their dreams.

Early in the afternoon, Lowe was visiting a neighbor. She noticed black smoke billowing over the hill.

Lowe quickly ran, stumbled up the hill, and reached the top only to see her home in flames.

“I just stood there for a while,” she said, “like it wasn’t even real.”

Lowe said it seemed like forever before CAL FIRE and the Montague Fire Department arrived. Hornbrook’s fire department is currently inactive.

Jennifer Greer, a passerby who was driving home on Ager Road when smoke caught her eye, was the first to arrive.

“It took a few moments to register the enormity of the situation,” said Greer.

Greer called 911 and approached the house, attempting to make sure no one was home.

“I wanted to run through the house checking every room, but I knew it was impossible,” said Greer.

Another person arrived at the fire and assisted Greer in moving Lowe’s vehicles from danger.

It was then that above the crackling fire came the sound of frantic squealing.

“I hurried to the side of the house where the kerosene tank was on fire and saw baby pigs racing in panic toward the chicken coop and around the side yard,” said Greer. “The heat even from where I stood was intense.”

While trying to free the pigs, Greer said she glanced up only to see the two pigs disappear into the flames.

Moments later, one of the pigs managed to escape the blaze but charged into a shortwire fence and was trapped with flames scorching his body, said Greer.

“The pig’s screams filled the air, like the sound of a baby crying,” said Greer. “I put my hands over my ears, but I could still hear him.”

Greer said that by the time Lowe arrived, the fire had almost gutted the house.

When the fire was out, Lowe said Montague firefighters stayed awhileburied the pigs.

“It was really big that they did that,” she said.

The pigs were her son Stephen’s pets. She was using them to help educate him on farming.

Page 2 of 2 - “He goes over to their graves every day and brings wild flowers,” she said.

In addition to their home, the Lowe family lost their pigs, many fruit trees and all of their belongings.

The Montague Fire Department determined the fire was electrical and likely caused by the heating pad she had been using for back pains earlier that day.

“You never know what life is gong to bring,” said Lowe. “I just want my life back.”

The Lowe family is currently renting next to their home.

“Everything was going in the right direction,” said Lowe.

Lowe's current plans are to simply get back to normal. The farm will be rebuilt, vegetables planted, and more pigs are on the way, she said.

For now, there is a trust fund set up to assist the Lowe family in rebuilding. Lowe said if more funds are given than her family needs, the rest will go to other families who are displaced by fire. To donate, contact Scott Valley Bank and ask to donate to the The Lowe Family Reconstruction Trust.